I didn't realize how niche video games were until I got a job

[HomokHarcos]

I was always socially isolated, don't have many friends or go out with others. But within my social group there are quite a few gamers. I assumed that people were understating how socially acceptable playing video games is. That was until I got my first job last year. People talk about pop music, Netflix, movies, sports but almost never about video games. It was surprising to me, really

 

[TheInfinityGauntlet]

People have less and less time spare (s/o capitalism you crusty bitch) so they have to phase out hobbies, usually it's one of the first to go because it's seen childish and is looked down upon, it is what it is

 

[Jack Bauer]

Time to quit and find a new iob.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

It really depends on the company. Try working at a tech company.

 

[Jurec84]

Hmm, I have the opposite experience. While most of my coworkers are women, they almost all have boyfriends with playstations 🤷🏻‍♂️ and they never ever said anything about my main hobby.

 

[TheRulingRing]

People have less and less time spare (s/o capitalism you crusty bitch) so they have to phase out hobbies, usually it's one of the first to go because it's seen childish and is looked down upon, it is what it is

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Yup. Waiting for the people in denial to come in here lol.

 

[Khamsinvera]

Really depends where you work and your co-workers demographics. About a third of my co-workers are into video games.

 

[hey it's that dog]

Playing Madden or war shit is acceptable. Telling a stranger about Undertale is still fuckin nerdy.

 

[Indelible]

It is a fairly expensive hobby, obviously it won't be for everyone.

 

[HomokHarcos]

Really depends where you work and your co-workers demographics. About a third of my co-workers are into video games.

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I work in a warehouse.

 

[Deleted member 14377]

invite them over and show them how far gaming as come

then dump them, shave your head and hit the gym.

 

[Nome]

Are you excluding mobile and web games here? Because that net gets cast muuuuuch wider.

 

[Finalrush]

My office has a Switch dock so we bring ours in and play on Fridays... almost every place I've worked at has had a good amount of gamers, but probably because I work in animation/design and we're all nerds.

Edit: Also I see at least 3 desks here with Splatoon 2 artwork, even from people who don't play games that just like the art lol

 

[KillLaCam]

Complete opposite experience in all of the places I've worked. But it definitely depends on the type of place you work at

 

[Kawngi]

It depends on where you work, I guess. I work at a large tech company, and many many people are avid gamers.

 

[Cenauru]

Opposite for me actually. I hear my co-workers talking about some mainstream games when they're coming out, and they're like in their 40's and higher. Some of them even play mobile games when they have nothing to do, and know the ins and outs of them. And my boss was talking to me about how much he's loving Ark recently. So it's not like they're enthusiasts like the general ERA member but I still hear it more often than I thought I would, considering everyone else here is like 20 years older than me. I don't work in tech (yet) so it was actually surprising to me.

 

[i'm not a rob0t]

having a casual conversation about video games is still akin to having a casual conversation about jacking off.

 

[808s & Villainy]

That says more about your job or the social circle there than than video games. Video games are in no way a niche hobby

 

[Jaded Alyx]

I was always socially isolated, don't have many friends or go out with others. But within my social group there are quite a few gamers. I assumed that people were understating how socially acceptable playing video games is. That was until I got my first job last year. People talk about pop music, Netflix, movies, sports but almost never about video games. It was surprising to me, really

Click to shrink...

What you might find is that people do actually play games, but they're reluctant to bring it up in conversation because of whatever stigma there is. I've seen situations like that where someone eventually makes a reference or something and before long, everyone is talking about games.

 

[capitalCORN]

Now go get yourself some sexy time.

 

[Deleted member 18400]

It's a fairly expensive and time consuming hobby. As you get older you will notice less people play games because they start spitting out kids or working 70 hours a week at the office.

Just is what it is.

Me? You'll bury me with my consoles.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Plot twist: OP works at a legal or banking company

 

[Shoichi]

games are more self-enclosed entertainment. It's also a fairly expensive hobby

I have a few friends that play games. It depends what field of work you are in. My workplace (banking/finance), you hear about music, movies and sports. Sometimes the random food place or tv show pops up. The age range is probably close to about twice mine though...which will make a difference

Only time I bring up games is my longtime friends that we have the same tastes in (board games, sports, video games, random nights out)

 

[carlsojo]

Yeah it is what it is. I find when I talk about video games at work people look at me and talk to me like I'm a child.

 

[GuEiMiRrIRoW]

I was always socially isolated, don't have many friends or go out with others. But within my social group there are quite a few gamers. I assumed that people were understating how socially acceptable playing video games is. That was until I got my first job last year. People talk about pop music, Netflix, movies, sports but almost never about video games. It was surprising to me, really

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Where you from? USA?

 

[MillionIII]

Even if they play there really isn't much to discuss, with movies you can recall scenes and quotes, video games it's more like" yeah that game is cool".

 

[mute]

Plenty of people around this medium-ish sized tech company to talk to about CoD, PubG/Fortnite/Apex, Ass Creed or whatever. It is actually surprising to see how many people of various age groups bring it up.

But anything from Japan? Nope. Games were apparently invented in 2007 by the US, anything else might as well not exist.

 

[PapaJustify]

Funny experience I had: I thought it was the same at my work place as OP's, but it turns out more people play games in some form than one might expect. BUT no one talks about it, because as prev mentioned there is this stigma that it is childish and stuff so there is rarely anyone striking up a conversation about that topic.

 

[Dekuman]

This is reality. Some people are way too shletered in their online forums thinking games is mainstream

It's seen as childish and while I don't hide that I'm a gamer i get a lot of comments about it from.coworkers implying I should grow out of it


It is sad reality

 

[L Thammy]

And that's why you put your top ten favourite games in your resume.

 

[Mosaica]

It sort of depends on where you work, I suppose. And age is definitely a factor, to an extent.
Nearly everyone within my age group plays games to some degree or another, but the majority of our staff are generously older than I am. And of them I've only heard a handful mention playing anything.

 

[7thFloor]

That 100% depends on your workplace.

 

[Fart Master]

Niche isn't the right word but yeah that's life. Sometimes you work with people you share hobbies sometimes you don't.

 

[GuEiMiRrIRoW]

Plot twist: OP works at a legal or banking company

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I work at the Brazillian justice system. I'm a lawyer. Most of my colleagues (including judges and prosecutors) with less than 30 play videogames.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

I think it also depends on what you call a game. The media labels many things as games including many mobile games like Sudoku. They may not consider that a video game, but it is.

 

[Deleted member 39744]

I'm a teacher and 90% of my colleages don't play videogames / still have that negative prejudice against it

But the cool thing is we share games with the 10% who do play videogames, it reminds me of when I was a pupil. Just got The Last Guardian this way for the summer from a colleague, and I gave him Red Dead 2, that should keep him busy

 

[Megatron]

It is a fairly expensive hobby,

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It's really not.

 

[pswii60]

I game a lot but none of my colleagues would know about it, and likely vice versa. I think the bigger issue is that there's still a stigma about playing games as an adult, so most of us just keep it to ourselves IRL and stick to Era for discussion.

It is a fairly expensive hobby, obviously it won't be for everyone.

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I thought we were talking about games, not skiing and horse riding.

 

[xZoneHunter]

It really depends on the company. Try working at a tech company.

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This pretty much. I was actually suprised at how many people play games casually at my work place. And when i say casually i mean the big AAA releases and multiplayer games. I played some Monster Hunter Worlds beta with a co-worker last weekend for example.

 

[Rangerx]

I work at a government department be and nearly half the office talks about games a lot of the time.

 

[Kate-Yelkovan]

I definitely second (third, fourth?) what others have said, it totally depends on where you work, and not just which company but geographically too. Like here in the SF bay, gaming amongst professionals is definitely well known and well talked about ofc

 

[t26]

Put something video game related on a desk. I made a comment on a Jack Frost on someone desk and found we have similar gaming taste.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

Really depends on the area and age demographic.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Playing Madden or war shit is acceptable. Telling a stranger about Undertale is still fuckin nerdy.

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Yup, unless its a sports game or something like CoD then gaming is almost nonexistent except for the occasional phone game and depending on the demographic they probably play stuff like Mario Kart or smash bros. aswell but that also wouldn't be considerd a more "manly" or "mature" franchise so unless your at a party they wouksnt care about that either

 

[Indelible]

It's really not.

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Compared to other forms of entertainment it is pretty expensive.

 

[NekoFever]

My workplace skews pretty old but even in my department, where we're all fairly evenly spread across our 30s, nobody plays games except for me and one guy who's into FIFA.

Movies, TV, sports, music? Yeah. Numerous people who see Star Wars movies at midnight screenings and who got up early to watch Game of Thrones (it aired at 2am here). But the last conversation I can remember having about games was when I was being ribbed for taking a day off for the PS4 launch.

 

[Burrman]

Same with me. I have hundreds of coworkers, and maybe 3 of them play games.

 

[DC5remy]

I have had quite a few jobs and met a ton of gamers along the way. It could just be the job you have.

 

[Version 3.0]

In my experience, a lot of people used to play (console) games, as kids, but now do not. Ask your co-workers what games they played in the past, and you'll probably get a much higher response.

Also, all your co-workers are playing the latest mobile phone casual craze (Words with Friends or something), but that "doesn't count", according to them, and according to us, too. :-p

 

[CaviarMeths]

I work mostly with women, and most of them play video games. They're more into mobile or browser based games though. One got super into Pokemon Go for a while. Not sure if she still plays.

I prefer this anyway. Would be nice to have someone at work I can talk games with I suppose, but it's unlikely that a Gamer™ co-worker would be interested in talking indies, Nintendo, or FFXIV with me.

Playing Madden or war shit is acceptable. Telling a stranger about Undertale is still fuckin nerdy.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, this, basically.